Category Archives: Afghanistan

It’s my assertion that whenever “The Enemy” wishes to enter peace talks, it’s “The West” that refuses terms and responds with violence. The CIA assassination of TTP leader Hakimullah Mehsud is the most recent example of this long standing policy of blatant aggression.

The Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif recently invited Hakimullah Mehsud, the leader of the Tehrik-i Taliban Pakistan for high level, direct peace talks. Days before the meeting and in direct violation of Pakistani sovereignty, the CIA assassinated Mehsud along with 25 other people in a drone bombing in the Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) of northern Pakistan.

The context for the drone strike has to raise the question of whether John Brennan, head of the CIA, is deliberately attempting to forestall any peace in the region. Why was Hakimullah Mehsud killed when he agreed to peace talks?

In June 2011 Radio 4′s Today Show had a very interesting discussion withMichael Semple, the former Deputy to the EU Special Representative for Afghanistan and a key proponent of talking to the Taliban. Here’s what he had to say on the subject:

Western military theory is based primarily on Carl von Clausewitz’steachings, what is taught in every single military academy is;

“War is not merely a political act, but also a political instrument, a continuation of political relations, a carrying out of the same by other means”

The Afghan War Logsshowed the true nature of the Afghan War, one that the media doesn’t report on.

Is it democracy that keeps western nations at war? Or the armies and the vested interests now massed behind them?

A burgeoning defence establishment, backed by large corporate interests, would one day employ so many people as to corrupt the political system. (His original draft even referred to a “military-industrial-congressional complex”.) This lobby, said Eisenhower, could become so huge as to “endanger our liberties and democratic processes”.

I wonder what Eisenhower would make of today’s America, with a military grown from 3.5 million people to 5 million. The western nations face less of a threat to their integrity and security than ever in history, yet their defence industries cry for ever more money and ever more things to do.

The cold war strategist, George Kennan, wrote prophetically:

“Were the Soviet Union to sink tomorrow under the waters of the ocean, the American military-industrial complex would have to remain, substantially unchanged, until some other adversary could be invented.”

That adversary is Islam and virtually every single country that has a large Muslim population.

The war on terror has fulfilled this prophecy fears, as Britain has followed America’s lead and sunk into a swamp of kidnapping, torture and imprisonment without trial.

The belligerent posture of the US and Britain towards the Muslim world has fostered antagonism and moderate threats in response. The bombing of extremist targets in Pakistan is an invitation for terrorists to attack us, and then a need for defence against such attack. A self fulfilling perpetual cycle of violence.

Meanwhile, the opportunity cost of appeasing the complex is astronomical.

“Every gun that is made is a theft from those who hunger”

For each long range cruise missile and bomber built a hospital ward and a classroom in Britain doesn’t get built.

As long as bullets are fired in war, there will be a company profiting from their sale, with the invention of the global war against terrorism, it provides a blank cheque opportunity for the defence industry – the military industrial complex – the scenery maybe variable – Iraq or Afghanistan – the money source remains the constant and the end result remains constant.

Yet your average Daily Mail reading Britain will be fed the myth that “they hate us for our freedom & democracy”.

It’s because our militarised media is so strong that no one will believe that it’s possible that our armed forces are capable of committing such evil acts such as breaking into people’s homes, killing them while they slept and then burning their bodies.

It becomes hard to be taken seriously if you are talking peace, yet continue to kill the people you want to bring to the negotiating table.

War is a conduit to achieve a political objective, if you have no political objective to achieve, or the remit is changed regularly as has been the case in Afghanistan, then you are in a perpetual state of war, a never ending war, that has no end game in sight.

In IRAQ they hate us the CIA put Saddam Hussein into power and manipulated Iraq and Iran into a war. We sold weapons to Saddam – 1.5 million people died in the Iran-Iraq war. Then came the Desert Storm campaign, depleted uranium, 10 years of UN sanctions led to almost a million dead children and the latest Iraq invasion, over a 1 million Iraqis have died as a result of American interference in Iraq.

In CHILE they hate us because we got rid of their Preseident Salvador Allende, killed in an American-sponsored coup, led by General Augusto Pinochet. Pinochet’s rise to power, organised by the CIA and Henry Kissinger, began nearly twenty years of military dictatorship that led to thousands of deaths. 30,000 people were massacred in the weeks following this September 11th, as Pinochet tried to wipe out those who opposed fascism. Years later our British friends welcomed the war criminal Pinochet with open arms and gave him sanctuary.

In The Congo they hate us as we gave them a military dictatorship thanks to the CIA assassination of Patrice Lumumba. The Congo conflict has led to at least 3 million deaths.

In Cambodia they hate us (& Britain) for backing the Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot who killed nearly 2 million Cambodians.

Since the Second World War, the US government has bombed 21 countries:

China in 1945-46 and again in 1950-53,

Korea in 1950-53

In Korea, nearly 3 million civilians were murdered by the USA and its allies. Civilians were murdered at No Gun Ri and many other places. The USA supported the fascist puppet regime in South Korea. The South Korean government carried out genocide against both North and South Korean people.

Guatemala in 1954, 1960, and 1967-69

Indonesia in 1958

Up to one million innocent civilians died in Indonesia after the CIA put Suharto into power in Indonesia. At least one third of the population of East Timor died after the USA gave Suharto permission to invade that country.

Vietnam in 1961-73

North Vietnam did not want a war. The US military-industrial complex made sure that there was a war. Through the Phoenix Program, hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese were tortured to death in “interrogation centres”.

These torture centres were built by the United States. Women were always raped as part of the torture before being murdered. This terrorism, rape and mass-murder was the policy of the USA. The My Lai massacre itself was an operation of the Phoenix Program.

Up to 5 million Vietnamese were killed in the Vietnam war.

Congo in 1964.

Laos in 1964-73,The United States Air Force dropped the equivalent of a planeload of bombs every eight minutes for nine years on the people of Laos — from 1965 to 1973. Over 2,000,000 tons.This was some of the heaviest aerial bombardment in world history.

Is this what they mean by bringing peace piss to the Muslims in Afghanistan.

So let’s get this right, you come to our lands and you slaughter us, you rape our women & children, you destroy our lands and strip it of it’s worth, you mutilate our dead, you flush our Quran’s down the toilet & you say Islam is an extreme religion.

I’m sure the media networks are salivating over how this will enrage the Muslim world and that’s it Friday prayers tomorrow so all the usual effigy & flag burnings will take place to show how barbaric the Muslim world really is.

The Akh is back in the UK and is currently having technical problems with a broken laptop, stay tuned as he will be switching to a regular weekly update, starting with The Akh’s brush with American homeland security.

The film “Rambo” is a classic tale of how a anti-war book written about the post Vietnam era in America is hijacked by Hollywood to glorify violence and war, the exact psyche of the American system, that the author David Morrell examined in his 1972 novel “First Blood”.

If, like me you were a child of the Eighties, then you grew up on a diet of “big gun americana” movies, I’m talking about Stallone & Schwarzenegger and everything that promoted the american way.

It didn’t matter how crap the quality of your pirated VHS version was, Rambo was on heavy rotation where ever I went.

Years later I found out it was based on a book, and decided to have a read of it.

What I found out as a child barely into my double digits was that the film was far removed from the book.

Rambo first learns about the death of one of his former soldier buddies, the film doesn’t mention what the book did, and that was he died from cancer – the after effects of the american army spraying millions of litres of Agent Orange into the jungles of Vietnam.

Why would the American army – do a such a thing?

Yeah the Vietnamese were the bad guys, but why would the americans also kill their own soldiers (thought a 8 year old Akh).

Another example was that if you’ve actually watched the film, ask yourself how many people actually die?

The answer is one

The sheriffs deputy that gets hit with a rock and falls out of the helicopter (that’s what happened, I’m not making it up)

The book was far more brutal, Rambo killed literally every single figure of authority, or that represented the police or the army that he came into contact with, even the dogs weren’t spared.

Eventually the Colonel that Rambo served under in Vietnam is called up to reach out to his creation and after that speech he persuades Rambo to give up and escorts him out…and that’s where the film ends.

True to form, reading the book I was absolutely shocked as to what the ending was….and I only found out this week that the ending was actually filmed, but it didn’t make the final cut as it didn’t go down well with the test audiences.

I was over the moon to see Rambo fighting alongside the Mujahideen and kicking some russian ass, after all, isn’t that exactly what the power of a lobby should be? to use the mass media to win hearts and minds?

There was no book for Rambo III, but I sat glued to the end credits, and found that the film wasn’t made on location in Afghanistan, but filmed in israel, and what was even worse, nearly all the Afghan Mujahideen were played by israeli’s too.

I found out at a very young age that you shouldn’t believe what you see in the media. Perhaps Rambo left an indelible mark on my psyche too…who really runs Hollywood?

Already Obama is under pressure from the military industrial complex to keep the troop numbers high. Despite Obama’s approval ratings riding high after the “deading” of Osama Bin Laden, what are the real chances of him still being President in 2013? seeing US presidential elections are due next year. This of course comes from a man who said Guantanamo would be closed as part of his election campaign – four years later, we’re still waiting.

The entire premise of foreign troops, especially American troops leaving a country they have invaded is an entirely false one. The media maybe reporting it as that, but what’s being said is that “Combat Operations” will cease. Just like combat operations ended in Iraq years ago, hasn’t led to a drawdown of troop numbers, Afghanistan will be precisely the same. No one builds the world’s largest “embassy” compound to leave it behind. The Second World War ended in 1945, yet American bases remain in the countries they invaded, principally Germany & Japan.

Listening to Radio 4’s Today Show this morning was far more revelatory than a whole hour’s worth of BBC programming.

Simply listen to what Michael Semple, former Deputy to the EU Special Representative for Afghanistan and a key proponent of talking to the Taliban had to say on the subject:

I’ve lost count the amount of times I’ve had to explain to people that western military theory is based primarily on Carl von Clausewitz’s teachings, what is taught in every single military academy is;

“War is not merely a political act, but also a political instrument, a continuation of political relations, a carrying out of the same by other means”

War is a conduit to achieve a political objective, if you have no political objective to achieve, or the remit is changed regularly as has been the case in Afghanistan, then you are in a perpetual state of war, a never ending war, that has no end game in sight.

The Afghan War Logs showed the true nature of the Afghan War, one that the media doesn’t report on.

As Simon Jenkins, writing in The Guardian pointed out recently, it is not democracy that keeps western nations at war, but armies and the interests now massed behind them. Eisenhower’s farewell message to America was a simple warning against the “disastrous rise of misplaced power” of a military-industrial complex with “unwarranted influence on government”.

A burgeoning defence establishment, backed by large corporate interests, would one day employ so many people as to corrupt the political system. (His original draft even referred to a “military-industrial-congressional complex”.) This lobby, said Eisenhower, could become so huge as to “endanger our liberties and democratic processes”.

I wonder what Eisenhower would make of today’s US, with a military grown from 3.5 million people to 5 million. The western nations face less of a threat to their integrity and security than ever in history, yet their defence industries cry for ever more money and ever more things to do. The cold war strategist, George Kennan, wrote prophetically: “Were the Soviet Union to sink tomorrow under the waters of the ocean, the American military-industrial complex would have to remain, substantially unchanged, until some other adversary could be invented.”

The war on terror fulfilled all Eisenhower’s fears, as America sank into a swamp of kidnapping, torture and imprisonment without trial.

The belligerent posture of the US and Britain towards the Muslim world has fostered antagonism and moderate threats in response. The bombing of extremist targets in Pakistan is an invitation for terrorists to attack us, and then a need for defence against such attack. A self fulfilling perpetual cycle of violence.

Meanwhile, the opportunity cost of appeasing the complex is astronomical.

Eisenhower remarked that “every gun that is made is a theft from those who hunger” – a bomber is two power stations and a hospital not built. Likewise, each Tomahawk Cameron drops on Tripoli destroys not just a Gaddafi bunker (are there any left?), but a hospital ward and a classroom in Britain.

As long as bullets are fired in war, there will be a company profiting from their sale, with the invention of the global war against terrorism, it provides a blank cheque opportunity for the defence industry – the military industrial complex – the scenery maybe variable – Iraq or Afghanistan – the money source remains the constant and the end result remains constant.

"Truth stands out clear from Error: whoever rejects evil & believes in Allah has grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold that never breaks. And Allah hears & knows all things."
(The Qur'an, Al-Baqara, 2: 256)

“Political authority & religion are kin brothers, neither would stand but by its companion; because religion is the foundation of political power & its pillar, & political power is the guardian of religion; political power is not established with a foundation & religion cannot be implemented without authority.”
- Shaykh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi

"War is not merely a political act, but also a political instrument, a continuation of political relations, a carrying out of the same by other means" - Clausewitz

"O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise each other). Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And Allah has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things)."
(The Qur'an, Al Hujurat, 49: 13)